1 SEPTEMBER 1961, Page 23

The Survivors

In a certain light the heroines Shine tawdry and brash, Women of few sins, Ophelia choked with river water, Desdemona with flesh.

Their acceptance of the end was right, More timely than those Who lit candles in the night, Ignoring death under their rouge And their brocade clothes.

The victims did not need or ask for pity. They did not betray Ever the foursquare city Fortified in their childhood, walls Rooted below day.

• But I will praise the women with no lust For killing hands or rivers, Who sucked blood from dust, Not for the joy but for the habit of life, Sanctified, the survivors.

PATRICIA HI I